September 16th, 2007 · 2 Comments
Class Notes for 9/14/07
Dust or Magic Blog 9/14/07
1. Warren’s new NYU email: wwb1@nyu.edu
2. Reminder to post comments about reading/reactions to class on the blog, as well as post articles to the wiki.
3. Power Tour Electric Guitar, engineered by Steve Unruh for Hasbro. Warren showed off his skills on the pint sized battery powered guitar. Is this toy dust or magic? Fisher Price will be coming out with a rival product: the I Can Play Guitar — a guitar that works with the television for a DDR type game. Should these things even be called guitars, or are they a different musical instrument? Why model these digital toys after existing musical instruments?
4. Magic, in Warren’s opinion, is a product that really engages a child.
5. Lecture (refer to Piaget PDF):
a) equilibration (diving into a cold lake vs. taking your time to adjust vs. returning to a safe state on the beach) — child products have different levels of intuitiveness upon starting. Disequilibration is when a child experiences something new and are left momentarily “off balance.”
b) assimilation and accommodation — assimilation is trying to fit a new experience into our exisiting world or mental framework; accommodation is the complement to assimilation, and this is when we adjust our existing mental framework for the new “thing.”
c) sensorimotor: we sense and use motor skills (touch) to learn about things around us.
d) toddler’s creed: if it’s yours, it’s mine. if it’s mine, it’s mine. if it exists and i can see it, it’s mine. If you’re using it and you put it down, it is mine.
e) 2 1/2 years, a child can begin to use a mouse.
f) pre-operational: child cannot comprehend or compare amounts — what appears bigger must be bigger. things cannot be more than one thing. appearance of an object and essence of it are the same thing.
g) concrete-operational: focused logical thought. hard to follow a series of directions.
h) formal-operational: unlimited logical thought.
i) no evidence that you can make a person smarter by pushing early development.
6. Meredith presentation: High Tech Toys! (powerpoint posted on wiki)
a) play is an important part of development, and toys aren’t necessary to facilitate this process. But they can be great tools.
b) Bob has a sneezing problem today.
c) Simple toys like blocks can inspire creativity while fostering motor skills and coordination.
d) several high tech toys presented and discussed… highlighted by the FLY Pentop Computer (Leapfrog), a pen with a computer inside that can help you with your homework but also a scaled down gaming system. But is it Dust or Magic?
e) $22.3 BILLION spent a year in U.S. alone on toys. 2007 year is up in the air for several reasons, one being China.
f) toys that are magic often are bought by and for adults.
g) Bob admits to still “playing” with yellow Playskool screwdriver.
7. Examples are great for current event presentations, and the more current the better. Presentation should be about 10 minutes long and can hopefully foster some discussion.
8. Robin Raskin:
a) Robin predicts Rock Band will be a hit this Xmas season (at $250 a pop).
b) Talked about moving from Web 1.0 to 2.0 a the idea of giving users control (a sandbox). Developers are now trying to apply these dynamics to children products.
c) Wisdom of the masses: Digg and such bookmarking sites trump editors of NyTimes for what’s important.
d) Culture in state of disequilibration grasping the move toward web 2.0, open source, and consumer control. Kids are adapting but don’t understand the vulnerabilities. Some sites (social networks) are targeting younger and younger.
e) as time narrows in terms of the upload factor, the interval for the self-censoring shrinks and people must adapt to these interfaces and make wise decisions.
f) tags, rss feeds, twitter, social networks, power of blogs (22 of 100 most popular websites are blogs), mashups, wikis & collaborative sites glossed over…
g) problems with web 2.0: no one answering questions, only gathering; posting bad reviews coming back to haunt you; no one editing blogs to make writing better; cream has not risen yet; authenticity; anonymity; intimidation; vigilante; stacking the ballot; inmates running the asylum; difficulty of students to filter all of the noise; time wasted in the web and not in the real world.
h) the new smart person knows how to filter; how to get relevant information through valuable sources in a quick manner.
i) Robin Raskin blog reports of Bob Barker’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Tags:Uncategorized
2 responses so far ↓
pengzhao // Sep 19th 2007 at 3:10 am (edit)
A question we were asked in class is “What is magic in terms of designing a product for kids?” It is a product that really engages a child, Warren said. Or something kids just dont want to put down, you can say. Computer game is a pretty good example in this case.
There are thousands of computer games and many high tech digital game devices out there in the market now, mainly targeting kids, there are also many many kids spending hours and hours playing with them, meanwhile there are many many parents and teachers complaining about their kids are too addicted to those virtual games to physically excercise and socialize with large group of other kids.
So computer game is magic? or dust? I think a magic product for kids is something really engaging - in a beneficial way. In this sense, computer games are magic, some of them and sometimes. Not only computer games, say toys/products for kids in general, what are the principles behind in designing them? how can we design something engages kids in some large extent, but not overwhelmingly?
buckleit // Sep 19th 2007 at 8:20 am (edit)
OK, but how do you define “beneficial?” My beneficial might be different that your beneficial. So the first step is to identify your own bias/agenda, and if you’re a public critic of the media, make it available for everyone to see. Here’s mine: http://www.childrenssoftware.com/rating.html
If you read between the lines, you’ll see a constructivist agenda built into the instrument; and you’ll also find the four ingredients of engagement (per the handout) woven into the checklist.
So the definitions of quality, magic, good stuff (vs. bad stuff) are all subjective in nature. You have to compare apples with apples when you throw around such terms, in order to not look or sound silly.
An open ended drawing experience is very different than a sorting game, where feedback, AI, narration and so on are involved. That’s why it is important for designers to look at a lot of competitive products.
The underlying premise of this class is that quality is linked to underlying play patterns. So understanding child development and child behavior will help you understand how not to make mistakes in interface.
Here, by the way, is the quick evaluation form, used by the SGTC (serious games testers club).
Notes from Class 2: More on Child Development
September 16th, 2007 · 2 CommentsClass Notes for 9/14/07
Dust or Magic Blog 9/14/07
1. Warren’s new NYU email: wwb1@nyu.edu
2. Reminder to post comments about reading/reactions to class on the blog, as well as post articles to the wiki.
3. Power Tour Electric Guitar, engineered by Steve Unruh for Hasbro. Warren showed off his skills on the pint sized battery powered guitar. Is this toy dust or magic? Fisher Price will be coming out with a rival product: the I Can Play Guitar — a guitar that works with the television for a DDR type game. Should these things even be called guitars, or are they a different musical instrument? Why model these digital toys after existing musical instruments?
4. Magic, in Warren’s opinion, is a product that really engages a child.
5. Lecture (refer to Piaget PDF):
a) equilibration (diving into a cold lake vs. taking your time to adjust vs. returning to a safe state on the beach) — child products have different levels of intuitiveness upon starting. Disequilibration is when a child experiences something new and are left momentarily “off balance.”
b) assimilation and accommodation — assimilation is trying to fit a new experience into our exisiting world or mental framework; accommodation is the complement to assimilation, and this is when we adjust our existing mental framework for the new “thing.”
c) sensorimotor: we sense and use motor skills (touch) to learn about things around us.
d) toddler’s creed: if it’s yours, it’s mine. if it’s mine, it’s mine. if it exists and i can see it, it’s mine. If you’re using it and you put it down, it is mine.
e) 2 1/2 years, a child can begin to use a mouse.
f) pre-operational: child cannot comprehend or compare amounts — what appears bigger must be bigger. things cannot be more than one thing. appearance of an object and essence of it are the same thing.
g) concrete-operational: focused logical thought. hard to follow a series of directions.
h) formal-operational: unlimited logical thought.
i) no evidence that you can make a person smarter by pushing early development.
6. Meredith presentation: High Tech Toys! (powerpoint posted on wiki)
a) play is an important part of development, and toys aren’t necessary to facilitate this process. But they can be great tools.
b) Bob has a sneezing problem today.
c) Simple toys like blocks can inspire creativity while fostering motor skills and coordination.
d) several high tech toys presented and discussed… highlighted by the FLY Pentop Computer (Leapfrog), a pen with a computer inside that can help you with your homework but also a scaled down gaming system. But is it Dust or Magic?
e) $22.3 BILLION spent a year in U.S. alone on toys. 2007 year is up in the air for several reasons, one being China.
f) toys that are magic often are bought by and for adults.
g) Bob admits to still “playing” with yellow Playskool screwdriver.
7. Examples are great for current event presentations, and the more current the better. Presentation should be about 10 minutes long and can hopefully foster some discussion.
8. Robin Raskin:
a) Robin predicts Rock Band will be a hit this Xmas season (at $250 a pop).
b) Talked about moving from Web 1.0 to 2.0 a the idea of giving users control (a sandbox). Developers are now trying to apply these dynamics to children products.
c) Wisdom of the masses: Digg and such bookmarking sites trump editors of NyTimes for what’s important.
d) Culture in state of disequilibration grasping the move toward web 2.0, open source, and consumer control. Kids are adapting but don’t understand the vulnerabilities. Some sites (social networks) are targeting younger and younger.
e) as time narrows in terms of the upload factor, the interval for the self-censoring shrinks and people must adapt to these interfaces and make wise decisions.
f) tags, rss feeds, twitter, social networks, power of blogs (22 of 100 most popular websites are blogs), mashups, wikis & collaborative sites glossed over…
g) problems with web 2.0: no one answering questions, only gathering; posting bad reviews coming back to haunt you; no one editing blogs to make writing better; cream has not risen yet; authenticity; anonymity; intimidation; vigilante; stacking the ballot; inmates running the asylum; difficulty of students to filter all of the noise; time wasted in the web and not in the real world.
h) the new smart person knows how to filter; how to get relevant information through valuable sources in a quick manner.
i) Robin Raskin blog reports of Bob Barker’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
Tags: Uncategorized
2 responses so far ↓
pengzhao // Sep 19th 2007 at 3:10 am (edit)A question we were asked in class is “What is magic in terms of designing a product for kids?” It is a product that really engages a child, Warren said. Or something kids just dont want to put down, you can say. Computer game is a pretty good example in this case.
There are thousands of computer games and many high tech digital game devices out there in the market now, mainly targeting kids, there are also many many kids spending hours and hours playing with them, meanwhile there are many many parents and teachers complaining about their kids are too addicted to those virtual games to physically excercise and socialize with large group of other kids.
So computer game is magic? or dust? I think a magic product for kids is something really engaging - in a beneficial way. In this sense, computer games are magic, some of them and sometimes. Not only computer games, say toys/products for kids in general, what are the principles behind in designing them? how can we design something engages kids in some large extent, but not overwhelmingly?
buckleit // Sep 19th 2007 at 8:20 am (edit)OK, but how do you define “beneficial?” My beneficial might be different that your beneficial. So the first step is to identify your own bias/agenda, and if you’re a public critic of the media, make it available for everyone to see. Here’s mine:
http://www.childrenssoftware.com/rating.html
If you read between the lines, you’ll see a constructivist agenda built into the instrument; and you’ll also find the four ingredients of engagement (per the handout) woven into the checklist.
So the definitions of quality, magic, good stuff (vs. bad stuff) are all subjective in nature. You have to compare apples with apples when you throw around such terms, in order to not look or sound silly.
An open ended drawing experience is very different than a sorting game, where feedback, AI, narration and so on are involved. That’s why it is important for designers to look at a lot of competitive products.
The underlying premise of this class is that quality is linked to underlying play patterns. So understanding child development and child behavior will help you understand how not to make mistakes in interface.